The present invention relates to a device for deviating parcels or various objects traveling on conveyors, whether these are band, belt, roll, roller or other conveyors.
For deviating parcels or the like traveling on a conveyor to send them onto another conveyor forming an angle with the first, there is used until now a rotary arm pivoting on a vertical axis situated on the side of the conveyor, this arm being actuated (by any appropriate control means) so as to place itself at 45.degree. to the direction of advance of the parcels, thereby causing them to deviate.
This arrangement presents the following disadvantages: When the deflecting arm moves from the inactive position toward the active position, its movement occurs in the opposite direction to that of the movement of the parcels, so that, to compensate this unfortunate relative motion, the deflecting arm must be given a high speed of rotation. If the deflecting arm is taken into use at the moment when the parcel reaches its level, this high speed of the deflecting arm imparts considerable accelerations to the parcel, which in some cases are incompatible with the fragility of the products. Besides, the force necessary for pushing the parcel away is high. As a result, the operating rates of the installations that must handle parcels of 80 to 100 cm on a side are limited to about 3,600 parcels per hour (one parcel per second), whereas it is desirable to be able to operate at higher speeds without maltreating the parcels.
To try to solve the problems of impacts of the deflecting arm against the parcels, devices have been proposed already in which said deflecting arm is taken along in a movement combining a longitudinal displacement in the running direction of the conveyor and a movement of rotation bringing the arm transversely to said conveyor.
Such devices are described for example in the documents FR 69 38558, DE 26 20 036, DE 27 28 669 and GB 2 223 730.
In FR 69 38558, the device includes a curved deflecting arm, one of the ends of which is guided along a straight slide disposed parallel to the conveyor, while the other end moves above the conveyor.
In a first form of realization, the deflecting arm is pulled by a manipulating rod attached on the side of the conveyor opposite that on which the deflecting arm is located. The manipulating rod is in the form of an inverted U and straddles said conveyor.
Such an arrangement cannot be used for deviating big parcels because of the placement of the manipulating rod above the conveyor.
This arrangement, therefore, can not readily be used in a sorting installation intended to handle parcels that may have such large dimensions as 1 m by 1 m by 1.2 m, as is now often required.
This document proposes a second device that solves the problem of the overall dimension in that it is entirely situated on one and the same side of the conveyor; the deflecting arm is then guided by two rails on which slide sleeves carried by said arm.
It has been found that in parcel-deviating devices using curved deflecting arms the parcel comes in contact with the arm by one of its corners, which brings about rather heavy impacts that may deteriorate its contents.
This is why in the other documents cited above flat deflecting arms have been used, able to apply against a face of the parcel to turn it aside without harsh impact.
At present there is a need for parcel-deviating devices able to work with parcels which may have dimensions as large as those defined above, and may weigh up to 70 kg.
The devices situated on one side only of the conveyor known from the cited documents do not have the mechanical strength necessary for the deviation of such parcels.